Nebraska researchers are part of two new projects awarded as Focused EPSCoR Collaborations (known as “FECs”) in 2026 by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). This year, the eight FEC projects span 16 NSF EPSCoR jurisdictions in an investment of $39.9 million overall.
According to NSF, FEC projects bring together researchers from two or more EPSCoR jurisdictions to tackle scientific and engineering challenges that require shared expertise, resources, and perspectives. These four-year projects are designed to build research infrastructure and capacity via research partnerships, to strengthen science, technology, engineering, and mathematics capacity, and to create opportunities that extend beyond the life of a single award.
The FEC program is part of EPSCoR, the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, which helps build research and development capacity in jurisdictions that have historically received a smaller share of federal research funding. This year’s awards support research in agriculture, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, environmental monitoring, critical mineral recovery, coastal resilience, snow science, semiconductors, and quantum materials. The teams address regional and national challenges, advancing interjurisdictional collaboration, research infrastructure, and workforce development.
The Fiscal Year 2026 FEC awards including Nebraska researchers are:
- Boosting Tolerance to Water Stress in Rice and Wheat Using Mycorrhizal Inoculants: The project will combine plant physiology, genomics, and AI to identify mycorrhizal fungi that can improve drought tolerance in rice and wheat. The project aims to boost drought tolerance, food security, and farmer profitability while supporting workforce development and engagement with agricultural stakeholders. The collaboration includes Arkansas State University, University of Kansas Center for Research Inc., University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and Kansas State University. The award amount totals $6 million and UNL faculty Xu Li, professor with the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, and Sasitharan Balasubramaniam, associate professor with UNL’s School of Computing, lead Nebraska’s participation.
- Converging AI, Biomechanics, and Genomics to Engineer Lodging Resilient Field Crops: The project establishes a consortium to address stalk lodging, a persistent threat to global food security. By integrating engineering, AI, biomechanics, and genomics, the research will yield deployable phenotyping technologies, open-source datasets, and analytical tools while preparing the next generation of scientists in convergent STEM disciplines. This $6 million award's $6 collaborators include the University of Idaho, Clemson University, and the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC). UNMC participation is led by Shibiao Wan, assistant professor in the UNMC Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Anatomy, and Jieqiong Wang, assistant professor in the UNMC Department of Neurological Sciences.
For a complete list of FEC projects awarded by NSF EPSCoR in FY2026, see https://www.nsf.gov/od/oia/updates/nsf-announces-399m-nsf-epscor-awards-strengthen-research.
The next round of FEC awards consideration begins with prospective teams submitting Letters of Intent, due December 15, 2027; for more information see https://www.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/epscor-research-infrastructure-improvement-program-focused.
